Although the origins of the drinking straw are lost to history, their earliest documented use is found in Sumer, dating from circa 3000 B.C. Ancient clay tablets depict Sumerians using narrow tubes to drink beer from a jar, and archaeologists have recovered “straws” in the form of golden tubes adorned with precious stones dating from the same era. Furthermore, it is known that in Argentina natives used drinking straws for several thousand years. Their simple wooden designs were subsequently adapted in metallic devices referred to as “bombilla,” which served as both straw and sieve for drinking tea.
The intervening centuries saw the use of a rye grass straw become common. A principal drawback of these natural drinking straws is that they tended to become soggy after very little use. Glass sipping tubes were also known, but their relatively high cost and low durability made them impractical for widespread use. Attempts to develop paper straws were met with varying degrees of success. The development of the modern mass-produced drinking straw is widely credited to Marvin G. Stone, with his development of a process for manufacturing wound paper straws.
Stone's invention inspired myriad variations on the mass-produced straw. Bendable paper straws appeared in the late 1930's, followed by plastic straws after World War II. Convoluted “crazy straws,” flavored straws, extendable straws, spoon straws and edible straws are just some examples of currently available drinking straws.
It is also known to provide straws with decorative elements. For example, straws have been produced in colors, printed with indicia, and molded with 3-dimensional symbols and images. So-called “party straws” have decorative elements such as artificial flowers and/or costume jewelry secured to an upper end of the straw with adhesives. Such decorative elements are prone to unwanted and unexpected detachment from the straw. This can create a health hazard, particularly when such decorative elements fall into a beverage completely unbeknownst to the beverage drinker.
Large-diameter straws have been provided for use with beverages having high viscosity and/or containing solid or semi-solid particles. One such beverage enjoying widespread popularity is “bubble tea” or “pearl milk tea.” Bubble tea has many variations, but is basically a relatively thick fruit- or tea-based drink containing tapioca pearls. Bubble tea is typically consumed by drinking the liquid, along with some of the tapioca pearls, through a large-diameter straw. A spoon is sometimes used to eat the tapioca pearls either during or after drinking the beverage. Accordingly, conventional bubble tea cup lids have hemispherical geometry with a relatively large central opening through which a spoon can be inserted into the contained beverage.
There is a well-recognized commercial market for the sale of non-disposable high-end decorative straws for bubble tea drinks, particularly for reusable decorative straws incorporating faux jewels, pearls and other such decorative components. However, an obstacle to creating such decorative straws is the need to adhere the components directly to the limited exterior surface of the straw using conventional chemical adhesives. The potential for these decorative components to become detached from the exterior straw surface and fall into the beverage, for example, through an opening in a beverage container lid, presents a real health hazard.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for a decorative straw and closure assembly that overcomes these and other drawbacks, disadvantages and limitations of the known art.